Huge thank you to my daughter-in-law Courtnie, for bringing this recipe to my attention. But first, let’s go over a few issues: the authentic Alfredo sauce, created in Italy back in 1908 by Chef Alfredo di Lelio, has very little to do with the versions made in the USA to this day. The traditional sauce (you can find the recipe here), uses only butter, Parmigiano cheese and pasta cooking water to form a rich emulsion. In the USA, heavy cream, cream cheese, garlic and other items are added, to create an even richer dish, that requires less skill from the cook, as the tricky emulsification step is not needed: things get saucy almost with no effort. If you want to have the real thing, try the original. The version I share with you today is creamy, satisfying, but has a lot less saturated fat (and calories). We loved it so much, it became part of our dinner rotations and you can read the comments after the recipe for different ways we’ve been using it.
LIGHT “ALFREDO” SAUCE (slightly modified from showmetheyummy)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1 cup vegetable broth ½ cup skim milk ½ cup non-fat greek yogurt room temperature ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper ½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano cheese
Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Sprinkle with cornstarch and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. While whisking, slowly add in broth and milk. Continue whisking to combine until smooth.
Raise heat to medium high and bring the mixture to a simmer. Keep cooking for about 2 minutes, until it starts to thickened, again, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and little by little, whisk in greek yogurt. Once combined, place back on the heat (medium) and stir in Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Simmer for a final couple of minutes and add to your pasta.
Comments: When this Brazilian sees versions of vegetarian feijoada, she gets really upset, so I hope that Italians and Americans will forgive me messing with such a classic. Truth is, when you need to worry about following a heart-health diet, some adjustments are called for. If you want to indulge without overindulging, this might be the recipe to try!
Apart from pasta sauce, we use it to make “Pizza Bianca”, just a simple pizza dough with this sauce, and some toppings like grilled zucchini, mushrooms, black olives. In the picture above, you see a recent version in which I joined chicken breast and green peas. I have also used it to make eggplant Parmigiana, omitting the tomato sauce. Lastly, we tried it as the bechamel component in a Croque Mosieur type sandwich. Huge success! We are hooked…
Ready for a true labor of love? Full disclosure, it was a case of self-love, because I made it to celebrate my own Birthday! I spread the preparation over three days, you can definitely make it in two, but sometimes it is best not to rush. Since it’s been many years since I made this type of cake, I decided to take my time and enjoy the ride.
for the cake component: 3 large eggs 1 cup white sugar (220 g) 1 tsp vanilla extract 3/4 cup mayonnaise (180 g) 1 + 1/2 cup all purpose flour (180 g) 1/2 cup cocoa powder (45 g) 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 cup water (185 g)
for the ganache center: 1 Tbsp (15 g) white sugar 1 tsp glucose or Corn Syrup 1/2 cup (120 g) whipping cream 50 g dark chocolate 40 g milk chocolate 2 tsps of unsalted butter
for the chocolate mousse: 3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp whipping cream (200 g) 200 g dark chocolate 3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp heavy cream (200 g) 3 egg yolks 60 g white sugar 1/4 cup (60 g) water
for the chocolate mirror glaze: 1 cup granulated sugar (200 g) 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp water (100 g) 2 drops red food coloring (optional) 1 cup heavy whipping cream (220 g) 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp corn syrup or glucose (120 g) 1 + 1/2 cups cocoa powder (130 g) 6 gelatin sheets (16 g) – I used Platinum
Make the cake: Line a 1/4 inch sheet pan with parchment paper and heat oven to 350 F.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, mayonnaise, and water. With an electric mixer, set on low speed, gradually add the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients until combined. Then increase the speed to medium and continue to mix for one more minute until the batter is fully combined and smooth. Spread the batter onto the pan and bake for about 15 minutes or until the center of the cake is set.
Let the cake cool for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cover in plastic wrap and freeze until you are ready to start assembling the cake.
Make the ganache: Break up the dark chocolate and milk chocolate into small pieces and place into a heat-proof bowl; set aside. In a medium-sized sauce pan, bring the cream, glucose or corn syrup, and sugar to a boil. Pour 1/3 of the hot cream mixture over the chocolate pieces, whisking vigorously until the chocolate starts to melt. Pour another 1/3 of the hot cream over the chocolate while whisking, continuing until the cream is all used up. Place the butter in a tall container or pitcher and pour the ganache over it. Using an immersion blender, mix the ganache and butter together until smooth and shiny. Pour the mixture into a bowl, cover with plastic touching the surface and let set for 5-6 hours at room temperature. You can also do that the day before.
After the ganache has set, remove the chocolate cake from the freezer and use a 3-inch cake cutter to cut six small cake rounds (each cake round should be about 1/4 the height of your cake ring). Place the chocolate ganache into a piping bag and pipe about 2 teaspoons of ganache in the center of each cake round). Place in the freezer for at least one hour.
Make the chocolate mousse: the mousse is made up of three components: the whipped cream, the chocolate ganache, and the egg yolks whipped with hot syrup (pâte à bombe). First, whip the 200 g cream until soft peaks form and set aside. For the chocolate ganache, break up the dark chocolate into smaller pieces and place in a heat-proof bowl. Bring the 200g heavy cream to a boil and then pour 1/3 of the hot cream onto the chocolate, whisking vigorously. Working in thirds, continue to pour the hot cream onto the chocolate until all of the cream has been used, whisking in-between each addition. Set aside.
For the pâte à bombe, place your egg yolks into a heat-proof bowl. In a large saucepan, heat the sugar and water together until the temperature reaches 244 F. Slowly pour the hot mixture onto the bowl holding the egg yolks, whisking continuously until the mixture thickens and turns a pale yellow.
Combine all three components: first fold the whip cream into the ganache, then pour the egg yolk mixture into the bowl of the mixed chocolate ganache, then fold all ingredients until smooth. Transfer mousse to a piping bag and coat inside of each metal cake ring with cooking spray. Line inside of each cake mold with acetate. Pipe the mousse into each cake ring, filling 3/4 of the way to the top. Gently press each frozen cake ring (topped with the ganache) into the ring with the ganache facing downward. The mousse should gradually move up toward the top of the ring. Flatten out the mousse and scrape off any excess mousse. Freeze each cake overnight.
Make the chocolate mirror glaze: first, place your gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water for about 5 minutes to soften. Heat the water, sugar, and a few drops of red food gel on the stovetop until the mixture reaches 222 F. In a separate bowl, mix the glucose (or corn syrup) and cream together then microwave for one minute until warm. Now pour this into the pan holding the sugar/water mixture, whisking continuously, then bring to a boil. Add the cocoa powder, remove from the heat and continue to mix.
Squeeze out the excess moisture from the gelatin leaves, then place in a pitcher or large measuring cup. Pour the sugar/cocoa mixture on top of the gelatin and mix with an immersion blender until all bubbles are gone. Let temperature reduce to 104 F (40 C) while preparing your cake molds.
To unmold the frozen entremet cakes, use a hair dryer to heat up the sides of the cake ring for a few seconds, then gently push the cake out of the mold onto a cooling rack placed on top of a baking sheet. Remove the acetate sheet from the cake. Before applying the glaze to the cake, make sure the glaze temperature is 104 F (40 C). Gradually pour the glaze onto the cake starting from the center outwards, fully covering the top and sides. (The excess glaze that has accumulated in the pan can be scraped up and re-used).
After the glaze settle a few minutes, transfer the cake to a serving dish; decorate with some gold leaf and serve.
Comments: The link associated with the recipe will take you straight to a video showing every single step of the preparation, so even if you have no previous experience with entremet cakes, you’ll be able to tackle it. Here is my way to approach this adventure:
Day one: baked the chocolate cake, wrapped it and froze it
Day two: made the ganache early in the morning, cut cake slices and topped with ganache around noon. Made the mousse and assembled the cake rings around 5pm. Froze everything overnight.
Day three: Made the chocolate mirror glaze, while it cooled to the pouring temperature (I used 110F instead of 104F), I removed the frozen cakes from the rings, took the acetate out, and placed them back in the freezer until the glaze was ready to pour.
The only problem I had – and that was a big problem that led into severe hyperventilation – was right after glazing the cakes. The video gave a super cool tip to hold the cake with a stick to roll the base over sprinkles, but it is VERY important that you do not stick that too deep, or you won’t be able to remove it without destroying the little cake. I almost lost my Zen. So, if you make them, insert the skewer just a little bit, it will be a bit wobbly but then you will remove it without issues, and the gold leaf or another decoration of your choice will hide the small hole left on the glaze.
I was totally thrilled with the outcome! Especially because I had not worked with mirror glaze in such a long time. Consider investing in a Bamix handheld mixer, it is the best tool to remove bubbles from this type of glaze, although for extra safety I always pass it through a fine sieve (they did not use it in the video, but I advise you to incorporate this extra step). I’ve had the Bamix for many years, found a great deal on eBay at the time, probably around 2018.
This is a real rich dessert, we shared one and then Phil had a couple of bites from the second one, leftover was his breakfast next day. If you don’t have gold leaf to decorate the top, a small fondant decoration or even sprinkles will do.
I truly enjoyed making these cakes, and now I wonder if I really need a super special occasion to justify bringing it to our table… Life is short, not a bad idea to indulge every once in a while, right?
A little labor of love, these cookies are adorable and will brighten up any special occasion. You’ll need a special silicone mold, but other than that, it is all pretty straightforward.
GEOMETRIC HEART BUTTER COOKIES (from The Bewitching Kitchen, adapted from several sources)
240g unsalted butter, at room temperature 140g powdered sugar 2 egg yolks 2 tsp vanilla extract 260g flour 20g cornstarch 1/2 tsp salt
Candy melts or compound chocolate of your choice, white and pink sprinkles for decoration Diamond dust pump
Mix the flour with cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl. Reserve. Add the butter to the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer, and using the paddle attachment, mix it for a couple of minutes until soft and creamy. Add the powdered sugar, mix on low, then increase the speed to medium and mix for a couple more minutes. Add the egg yolks and vanilla. Mix until all is incorporated, then add the reserved flour mixture.
Mix until all flour is incorporated and there are no dried bits anywhere. Fill the cavities of the mold with the cookie dough, 3/4 to the top, making sure to allow a little space for expansion. Ideally, you want the cookie to bake flush with the top of the mold.
Bake at 325F until the cookies are set in the center, that might take about 20 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely over a rack. If you want to be extra safe, place the cool mold in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes before un-molding.
Remove the cookies, wash the molds and use them to melt compound chocolate and do the final coating and decoration.
Comments: To bake the cookies, you will need a silicone pan such as this one. The cookies will take longer to bake in the mold than they would shaped and baked on a baking sheet. Also, you need to let them cool completely before attempting to un-mold. Wash the pan, dry it well, and use it to pour a base of melted compound chocolate (I used white and pink, marbled together). Place the cookies gently back over the melted chocolate and freeze the whole tray for 15 minutes. Additional melted chocolate and sprinkles make the cookies even more festive, but of course, that step is optional.
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These cookies would be perfect for an engagement party, a wedding anniversary, a teenage girl Birthday, or simply to offer to someone you really love!
Decadent. First adjective that came to my mind after the first bite. It is not a sourdough, relies on commercial yeast, but I would not consider it a bread fit for beginner bakers. The high hydration level makes it very tricky to handle. However, if you don’t mind a little challenge, go for it. Absolutely wonderful!
500g bread flour 520g) water lukewarm 2 teaspoons (10g) table salt 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast 20g Dutch-processed cocoa powder olive oil to coat the bowl 130g chopped chocolate
In a medium bowl, mix the dough ingredients until thoroughly combined and homogenous. The dough starts off very slack and wet. Oil a two-quart rectangular baking dish (10” x 7”) with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Pour the dough into the dish. If you have a bread proofing box, set it to 72F and place the dish inside it. Cover the pan and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
Perform a first set of bowl folds: use your wet hands to grab a section of dough from one side, lift it up, then press it down into the middle. Repeat this about 12 times going all around the perimeter of the dough. Cover the dish and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
To do a coil fold: with wet hands, reach under the dough and stretch the middle upward until the dough releases from the dish. Roll it forward off your hands, allowing it to fold over (or “coil”) on itself. Rotate the dish 90°(a quarter turn) and repeat. Continue performing this folding action until the dough feels like it won’t stretch and elongate easily, usually four to five times. Cover the dish and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
Repeat the coil fold. Cover the dish and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
Repeat the coil fold one last time. Cover the dish and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
As gently as possible, turn the dough out onto a work surface spritzed with water. Gently coax the dough into a rectangle about 14” x 10” with the long side facing you. Sprinkle the dough evenly with the chocolate. Fold one of the short sides into the center, then fold the opposite third over the first, like you were folding a business letter.
Fold the dough a second time by bringing the top third of the dough down towards the center, then bringing the bottom third up to cover the top portion (another letter fold). Return the dough to the oiled dish to rise for about 80 minutes, until puffy.
Gently turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on top of the dough and roll the cut sides of the dough on the floured surface so no sticky spots are exposed. Tuck any visible pieces of chocolate into the dough to prevent them from burning.
Working as gently as possible, use a bench knife or other sharp knife to divide it into eight pieces. Place four pieces on a sheet of parchment, leaving space between them. Repeat with the remaining four pieces of dough, placing them on another sheet of parchment. Let the rolls rest at room temperature for 2 hours, uncovered.
Heat the oven to 475F with a baking stone (or steel sheet) inside. Carefully slide the four rolls (still resting on the parchment) into the oven onto the stone or steel. Allow the other rolls to continue to rest.
Bake the rolls for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven to a rack to cool. Bake the remaining 4 rolls. Allow the rolls to cool completely.
Comments: I have made the original Pan de Cristal last year (check it out here). As soon as I saw the recipe at King Arthur’s site, I knew I had to try it. This bread is not sweet, the chocolate brings almost a smokey quality to the bread, but when you happen to bite into a morsel of chocolate that did not quite fully melt into the crumb, you know it is the key ingredient. Do not expect to be able to shape the rolls, divide them and let them be. The bread is great without anything but a little butter, flaky salt, a little Brie cheese, or if you are into jam, apparently cherry jam would be awesome with it. Like most breads, it freezes superbly well, so make it and enjoy it for days and weeks to come!
If you’ve been following my blog over the years, you probably know a few things about my husband, Phil. He cooks dinner every other day. He is an avid (and pretty darn good) golfer. He is a biochemist and a Professor at Kansas State University. But maybe there a few things you don’t know. And I am here to share them with you, as we approach the day we’ll both retire from academia and research. Things I admire and cherish about the man who started as a co-worker and became my very best perfect match.
ON MENTORING STUDENTS
Maybe one of the things I admire the most. Quite often, in academia, faculty members subscribe to the idea that a graduate (or undergraduate) student should be solely responsible for their progress. In other words, they have high expectations and sets of rules to accept a student into their research group. Phil has a completely different approach. To join our group, all that he expected was enthusiasm for our research subject and the commitment to work hard. Anything else would be irrelevant. I’ve been around scientists from many parts of the world, and I can tell you, this is not usual. But it is absolutely wonderful, and super gratifying.
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A PASSION FOR THE SUBJECT
Phil has devoted his whole scientific career to a single subject: understand how bacteria capture iron from the environment. In the microbiological world, Escherichia coli is by far the most studied bacteria, and his decades of research revolved around a fascinating protein (FepA) that resides in the membrane of E.coli and scavenges iron with tremendous efficiency. I’ve been working in research since I was 20 years old. Phil started when he was 24. I’ve changed subjects several times, from genetic instability in Proteus mirabilis (my PhD thesis in Brazil), to bacterial flagellin, biotechnology of vaccines, and a decade after that I joined Phil’s research on iron uptake. Phil has been fascinated and absolutely committed to iron for all these years. I tell you a little story from our days working at Oklahoma University, in Norman.
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This was our research group at the time…
We had undergraduates, graduate students and a wonderful pos-doc (Marvin Payne, first author of this article). Some students stayed with us for several years, completed their thesis, some left for one reason or another. One of the students who left came back to visit us maybe 4 or 5 years down the line. He had left science to get what he called “a real job”. During his visit, he asked me “sooo, you guys STILL work on FepA and all that iron stuff?” There was as a clear derogatory tone, it was a snide remark by definition, as if only fools would “still” be doing the same old stuff. I just smiled, and said that yes, we were still working on it and still pretty excited about it all. Today, probably 20 years have passed and I can say that what that former student considered a flaw, I find the definition of awesome… To devote your career to figuring out a mechanism because you are so intrigued and so fascinated by it? It is what makes waking up every day and go to work absolutely worth it. Quite likely because of his passion and commitment for the subject, Phil has developed this amazing ability to visualize the bacterial receptor and devise the right experiments to answer the most relevant questions. He expanded our research into new areas, joining biophysics, fluorescence spectroscopy, 3D imaging, in ways that sometimes made me a bit insecure and almost skeptical – should we really venture into this totally new experimental area? His answer was always: why not? it will be fun… And he has been right, every single time.
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ON PUBLISH OR PERISH
This is a real big one. In academia, you are evaluated by how many papers you publish per year. Most scientists will try to spread their findings into several articles, to increase that number. Phil has refused to do it from the very beginning of his career. He had zero interest in numbers but instead went for publications that would tell the most complete story possible. Our late friend and collaborator Alain Charbit, from Institut Pasteur, used to joke that we did not publish papers, we published treatises… I confess that at times I tried to convince Phil to change his ways on this, but I am glad he never did.
And speaking of publications, what might end up as our last scientific paper was accepted for publication by the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Just the two of us as authors, which in a way makes it even more special…
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ON GIVING CREDIT
About a week ago, Phil gave his final seminar at Kansas State University, in which he covered all he did during the past 50 years (!!!!) working on iron uptake. To give you an idea of how much things changed, this was the way bacterial membrane was depicted in 1975, when he started working on his PhD in Berkeley with Dr. Joe Neilands (not only was he an amazing scientist, but a raging liberal, once stood side by side with Jane Fonda in Vietnam to protest the war).
And this is how we visualize it now, with all the proteins that have been crystallized (in other words, their tri-dimensional structures defined and shown in detail). In the figure, OM stands for outer membrane, and IM is inner membrane. Bacteria such as E.coli have two membranes surrounding the cell. They are unicellular organisms.
We have never worked with crystallography, so no credit goes to our group for the structures shown above, but thanks to the availability of the structures, we could devise experiments to shed light on the mechanism of iron transport. In his talk, Phil gave credit to all the students and pos docs who did the work over the years. I share just a few here.
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He closed the seminar, not with the usual – thanking funding agencies for their financial support – but instead thanking those who helped him become the scientist he is today.
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It was an amazing seminar. A real wonderful way to wrap things up. Our retirement is set for the last week of May, but we have a couple of experiments planned because… why not? It will be FUN! As we get ready for a new phase in our life, I have a ton of mixed emotions, but one thing is certain, I look forward to enjoying life with my Iron Man.
Bewitching Kitchen 